


give these ghosts a new home

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Post-Season/Series 06, Team as Family, broganes, kind of lance-centric, the intergalactic road trip back to earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-24 16:45:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15634698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Keith sweeps back into their lives with his mother in tow, and their little family rearranges itself once again.





	give these ghosts a new home

**Author's Note:**

> my last two brain cells in haunting unison: klance is canon king
> 
> alternate title for this fic is "what the fuck is going in here on this day" bc it doesnt make sense and there is no coherent plot imo, i'm just being self-indulgent and also wanted to post something before s7 happens
> 
> rated t for a little bit of language
> 
> title from circles by eden

Keith takes a swig from his bottle. “Legally, Shiro’s my dad. I think.” 

Lance chokes. Krolia tilts her head, confused. The rest of them just stare at Keith, bewildered. Shiro stifles a laugh behind his hand. 

“I don’t understand,” Krolia says. “How can Shiro be your father when, well, when your  _ father _ is your father?”

Keith smiles at his mom. “Shiro adopted me before I joined the Garrison. He vouched for me and gave me a recommendation so I’d get in, but they needed to put someone down as my guardian because I was still a kid. It— it made sense, I guess.”

Krolia still looks confused, so Shiro jumps in, too. “It doesn’t make me Keith’s real father. It’s more like— I’m someone who signed up to take care of him and take responsibility for him until he’s an adult. Otherwise, the government would’ve done it?” 

“You never saw him as a father.” Krolia sounds so certain. 

Keith shakes his head. “Nope. He’s just—,” he looks over at Shiro, “he’s just Shiro, really. He’s still family, but. If I had to pick a label, I think I’d say he’s like my big brother?”

“You think?” Shiro grins at him. “Where’s the certainty, Keith? Where’s the love?”

“I think I left it in my other Lion,” Keith deadpans. Lance snorts. Shiro looks at him, meeting his eyes for a moment, still smiling. Lance looks away at Krolia instead. She’s looking between her son and Shiro like she’s still trying to figure this whole conversation out. Lance thinks he might understand that feeling.

“You can chalk it up to a ‘humans are strange’ thing, if you want,” Lance offers awkwardly. “That’s what Allura and Coran do sometimes. Alien cultural differences and all that. There’s, like, different kinds of families on Earth, I guess you could say.” Krolia smiles at him. Allura’s smiling at him, too, at his attempts to make Keith’s mom feel more at home here. 

“What’s your family like, Lance?” Krolia asks him quietly. 

Lance stares into their campfire, trying to gather his thoughts. He starts scratching between Keith’s wolf’s (dog’s? wolf’s?) ears absentmindedly. “They’re lively,” he says finally. “There’s a lot of us, you know? My grandparents and my cousins and my aunts and uncles and my nieces and nephews, everyone lives together. If they don’t live with us, they live close by, close enough that we see each other every day. It’s— it’s great, you know. It’s never lonely.” Everyone’s silent as he speaks, so he keeps going, unable to stop himself. 

“My mother, she’s the sweetest, kindest, most caring woman I’ve ever met. I’ve only heard her yell at someone a handful of times in my whole life. I tell her everything, and she listens, and she gives the greatest advice. And when she can’t give advice, she’ll just give me, like, the warmest, most gentle hug ever, and I’ll feel like everything’s okay again. She taught me how to cook, you know? When I was little I’d sit on the kitchen counter and watch her and ask questions because I wasn’t allowed to use the stove and try things myself yet.” He huffs out a laugh. “God, I asked  _ so _ many questions, I can’t believe she never got sick of me. And as soon as I could, I’d start helping her out. She always made these big homemade breakfasts on the weekends, and she’d give me the mixing bowl and I’d march around the kitchen with the bowl and the whisk and show everyone how helpful I was.” 

He keeps going, talking about each and every member of his family, about the way his dad smiles and the way his siblings have a habit of ruffling his hair every time he’s within reach and the way his nieces and nephews love it when Uncle Lance joins in on their games, even when the rules make no sense, and by the time he’s done his throat feels dry and his eyes are stinging from staring into the fire too long, and maybe from tears, too. Space Wolf (who still doesn’t have a name, as far as Lance is aware?) is asleep at his feet, Lance’s fingers still tangled in the thick fur on top of its head. 

“You must miss them,” Krolia says, barely above a whisper. 

“Every day.” Lance looks up and meets Krolia’s eyes. “But it’s not so bad, sometimes. I have a family here, too.” She smiles at him, eyes soft. It’s the same way she smiles at Keith sometimes, he’s noticed, caring but just a touch uncertain. He smiles back. 

Lance’s stories about his family seem to open up the floodgates for everyone else. Hunk talks about his mothers, how they met, how he was the ringbearer at their wedding. Lance remembers both of them, remembers how they’d hugged him like he was their own son, too. He’d said to Hunk, once, “I’m glad you get to be surrounded by love all the time. I think you deserve it.”

Pidge talks about her father and brother and mother. About how Matt had been her best friend growing up. About how her dad is the only person in the whole universe who actually enjoys the food they serve at the Garrison, and how her mother always pretends to be offended when this is brought up because Garrison food tastes absolutely  _ terrible  _ and her cooking is so much better. 

Allura talks about her father. Coran talks about Allura. Shiro talks, too, about his mother. About Keith. There are gaps and holes in his stories, like he’s talking around the existence of another person. 

— 

“Hey, Keith,” Pidge says later. She, Keith, Hunk, and Lance are the ones left sitting around the fire. Shiro’s asleep in Black’s cockpit, Allura and Coran are asleep in Blue’s. Romelle’s asleep in Blue, too, had gone to sleep as soon as they landed on this planet. Krolia is— Lance isn’t sure where Krolia is, actually, just that she and Space Wolf left the campfire a little while ago, and that she’d murmured something to Keith as she’d gone. Keith had smiled up at her, and she’d ruffled his hair. 

“Hm?” Keith cracks open one eye, lying on the ground next to the fire. It looks… cat-like, in the firelight. Like his mom’s eyes.

“You can tell me if this question is, like, weird or insensitive or something,” Pidge starts, “but I just kind of— you’re Korean, right? Or at least, your human half is.”

“Yeah, as far as I know. How is that insensitive?”

“How come your last name isn’t? Kogane is— it’s not a Korean surname.”

Keith hums. “I changed it. After Shiro adopted me.”

“Oh.”

Maybe it’s the warmth from the fire, or maybe it’s the atmosphere that settled over them when Krolia had asked about Lance’s family hours ago, but there’s something that seems to make Keith keep going where he would usually stop, Lance notices. “Yeah. I wanted to— surprise him, I guess. Make him feel like we’d really become a family. I needed a guardian with me but I couldn’t bring Shiro so instead I got Ad—,” he cuts himself off the way he’s done since they all ended up in space together, not wanting to say the name in front of Shiro. Lance and Hunk and Pidge had learned to do the same, quickly. Matt, once they’d found him, had never uttered it once. 

But Shiro’s not here right now. He’s asleep in the Black Lion, so Keith clears his throat and keeps going. 

“I got Adam to take me and sign off on it. It was— it was like a mash of my dad’s last name and Shiro’s. The ‘K’ from ‘Kang’ and the last half of ‘Shirogane’. He cried when we showed him. In hindsight, I’m not sure why Adam let me just impulsively mash two last names together, I was, what,  twelve? Thirteen, maybe? But I like it.” There’s a small smile playing around his lips. Lance stares at it, transfixed. 

“Keith,” Hunk says quietly. “Why aren’t we allowed to talk about Adam?”

The little smile drops off of Keith’s face. He sits up abruptly, knees pulled in to his chest, chin resting on top of them, arms wrapped around his legs. He’s quiet for a few moments, and Lance sees Hunk open his mouth, start to apologize, before Keith speaks.

“They broke up.” His voice is a whisper. “Right before the Kerberos mission.” 

“What? I thought they were—” 

“Yeah,” Keith says. There’s a hint of bitterness in his tone. “Me too. I didn’t think anything could tear them apart.” He takes a deep breath. “Shiro was dying before he left. He was sick. Adam—,” Keith’s voice breaks, “Adam thought the Kerberos mission might actually kill him. He told Shiro not to expect to see him again if he came back.” 

“That’s awful,” Pidge whispers.

Keith sighs. “I thought so, too. I hated Adam so much after Shiro left, after— after the mission failed. But now, after all the shit Shiro’s been dragged through… I kind of understand. He really loved Shiro, you know? And Shiro really loved him. Still loves, I think. And I don’t think that what Adam said was right, but I get it. He thought he was going to lose Shiro forever. And then, when we thought Shiro was dead… he thought he  _ had _ lost him. He was trying to protect Shiro. I just don’t think he went about doing it very well.” 

Lance wonders how Keith felt, not being able to talk about Adam for so long. He had to have loved him, the same way he loves Shiro, the same way Lance loves his family. But Lance gets to talk about the people he loves all the time, tells stories about them and makes sure all the new people he meets get to love them, too. Keith, in all these long months they’ve been in space, has never actually talked about Adam until now, and there’s an unmistakable affection in his tone, even when he talks about Adam’s mistake. 

“What’s he like?” Lance asks, before he can stop himself. Keith turns to look at him, tilting his head (the same way his mom does, Lance notices, and it’s adorable how many habits of hers he’s picked up in such a short time, how many habits of hers he’s had from the beginning). “Adam, I mean.”

Keith leans back on his hands, tilts his head back to look up at the sky. “He’s— he’s really nice. He and Shiro were pretty young when Shiro adopted me, but he just kind of settled into being a parent. I was a really angry kid, you know? But Adam never got mad at me for being the way I was. He tried to help. He and Shiro were the only people that ever did that, the whole time I was at the Garrison.” He breathes deeply. “After Kerberos, he— I got really mad at him for saying the things he said to Shiro because, well, Shiro was dead. And I thought maybe if Adam had been more understanding or something maybe he’d be alive somehow. Maybe he’d have just stayed. I got myself kicked out of the Garrison and threw all my shit in a bag and ran away. And then I lived in my dad’s old house for a year and Adam never came looking. I think part of me was, I don’t know, hoping he would. I mean, I realize now that he probably couldn’t have, since there’s not record of where my dad’s house is with the Garrison. He couldn’t have known where I was.” He inhales again, and it sounds like a stutter, like maybe he’s— maybe he’s about to cry. “God, he probably thinks I’m dead now, too.” 

Lance moves without thinking, shifting to sit beside Keith and gripping his shoulder. “Hey,” he says softly, “it’s gonna be okay. We’re on our way home. You’re going to see Adam again.” He keeps going, reassuring Keith in a low voice, the hand on his shoulder going to rub small circles on his back until Keith’s breathing evens out. Pidge inches closer, too. Hunk gets up and moves to sit in front of Keith. 

“Hey,” he says, “Lance is right. We’re going home. You and Shiro are going to see Adam again. You’re going to get your family back.”

“And in the meantime,” Pidge lays a hand on Keith’s shoulder, “we’re your family, okay? Don’t forget that.”

Keith nods. He doesn’t say anything, but he looks at them with this fragile, soft look in his eyes, and Lance suddenly wants nothing more than to wrap him up in his arms and  _ protect him, _ because Keith never looks this fragile, never looks like he’s just an instant away from shattering apart.

It breaks Lance’s heart.

— 

Krolia starts, for lack of a better term, mother-henning all of them. 

It starts with little things, things Lance doesn’t pick up on immediately. She waits until everyone else starts eating their food before even reaching for her own. She’s the last one to go to sleep, and the first to offer to take watch if needed. She sits next to Allura and Coran and asks if they’ve been sleeping well. She checks up on Shiro almost as often as Keith does. 

Lance notices it when Krolia starts doing rotations in each of their Lions. She sleeps in the Black Lion still, within arms reach of both her son and his brother. But when they’re travelling between planets, she takes turns in each of the other Lions. She starts in the Black Lion with Keith and Shiro, as usual, but the next time they take off she moves on to Blue with Allura and Coran and Romelle, and then Yellow with Hunk, Green with Pidge, and rounds off her rotation with Lance in Red before going back to Black and starting over. It’s weird for a bit, but Lance gets used to it quickly, chattering away as she sits leaning against the wall and cleaning her Blade weapons, or stands by the pilot’s chair and peers out at space over Lance’s shoulder, or asks questions about how Red’s doing. 

Once, during a particularly long stretch of flying, Lance feels her gaze on the side of his face. She’s sitting leaning against the wall, cross-legged. He bears it for only a few minutes before asking, “Is there something on my face?”

“I saw you in a lot of Keith’s memories,” she says, instead of answering. 

“Memories?”

“In the Quantum Abyss. Time was… distorted. We saw glimpses of our pasts. And of our futures.”

Lance is quiet for a moment, then, “Was I in his past or his future?”

“You featured prominently in both.”

Lance’s hands stutter on the controls for an instant. Red tilts out of the loose formation the Lions are flying in before Lance snaps out of it and rights her again. 

“You okay, Lance?” Keith’s voice comes over the comm. Lance sees Krolia smile out of the corner of his eye. 

“Yep, I’m great,” he says. “All good here, no need to worry.” He clears his throat, double checks that the comm is now off, and then asks Krolia, “Featured prominently, huh? What— uh, how am I supposed to interpret that?”

Krolia just shrugs. “However you like,” she says, then falls silent even as Lance sputters, tries to get more answers out of her. She’s smiling the same way his own mom does when she teases him, when she pinches at his cheeks and ruffles his hair and calls him  _ cariño. _ As infuriating as it is, it makes something warm bloom in his chest. He feels safe. 

Safe enough to give it up and say, “Alright, whatever you say,” in the same affectionate drawl he uses with his big sisters, safe enough to stay in silence for the rest of the trip. Safe enough to stop controlling his expression every time Keith’s voice comes through the comm. To let the smile creep over his face, to let something shine through even though Keith’s  _ mom _ is right there. She won’t tell Keith, not if Lance isn’t ready, the same way she won’t confirm what it was she saw in the Abyss, in Keith’s memories. 

She squeezes his shoulder once when they land, as they exit the Red Lion, and goes to hug her son.

— 

The intergalactic road trip home has been going smoothly so far, so of course they’re attacked by a stray Galran patrol. They’re surrounded in no time. Keith’s voice is in Lance’s ears, barking out orders, confident and calm. 

He barely has to focus in battle now. He weaves Red through the sentry ships with ease, every movement of his hands on the controls a familiar reflex now, muscle memory kicking in as his brain slips into a battle-state. Maybe his single-minded focus on chasing one of the ships is why he doesn’t see the other one coming for him until it’s almost too late.

He’s shoved out of the way before he can react, the Black Lion’s huge body blocking his view. He hears two roars, overlapping, one in his mind and one through the comms, and the next glimpse he gets of the sentry ship is of it in pieces.

“Lance,” comes through his comm.  _ “Lance,  _ are you okay?” Keith.

His heart is pounding. His head is buzzing. He keeps hearing it in his ears, two roars laid over each other. 

“Yeah,” he says. “Thanks.”

— 

Keith greets his mother when they land, going to hug her as she comes down the Blue Lion’s ramp listening to a story Romelle’s telling, and then comes to tug at Lance’s arm. “I need to talk to you,” he says, and Lance’s heart stops for an instant because those are never good words to hear. But he nods and follows Keith anyways. 

The planet they’ve landed on is dry and rocky. Keith stops at the foot of a craggy hill, out of earshot of the Lions and the rest of the team. He stares at Lance for a moment, then two, brow furrowed. Lance notices, distantly, that Keith’s still holding onto his arm. 

“Are you okay?” Keith asks, finally. 

Lance blinks. “Yeah?”

Keith lets go of Lance’s arm to scrub his hand through his hair, looking away. “It’s just. Earlier. That ship. It’s not like you to miss something like that. I— I’m not trying to, I don’t know, condescend or nitpick at you or anything but you seem— different, lately. Kind of… distracted. And I know I’m not the best at, like, emotional stuff, but, you know. I’m just kind of worried about you, is what I’m trying to say.”

_ Was I in his past or his future? _

_ You featured prominently in both. _

What did Keith see in his memories?, Lance wonders. Does something happen to him?

“I’m fine,” he says. “You don’t need to worry about me.” It’s the wrong thing to say, judging by the look that crosses Keith’s face. It’s replaced, quickly, by a rueful smile.

“Well,” Keith says, “all that’s done is make me worry more.” 

_ His past or his future? _

_ Both.  _

“What did you see?” Lance blurts out. “When you were in the Abyss. What did you see, Keith?”

Keith steps back, takes a deep breath. “You,” he says on the exhale, barely a whisper. He won’t look Lance in the eyes. Lance takes one, two steps closer, until he’s in Keith’s personal space. Keith doesn’t move. Like this, the new height he has over Lance is even more apparent. Lance tips his head back. 

“What did you see?” he asks again, soft.

Keith rests his forehead against Lance’s, eyes sliding shut. His hand finds Lance’s arm again, slipping down until he’s loosely gripping Lance’s wrist.

“You.”

— 

Space Wolf, Lance learns from a very amused Krolia, is named Yorak. And Yorak, Lance also learns, got its name because it was going to be  _ Keith’s _ name, once upon a time.

“So in a roundabout way, Keith named his wolf after himself.”

Krolia laughs from where she’s sitting between Hunk and Pidge. Last time, she’d sat between Allura and Lance. Between Shiro and Romelle, the time before that. Can’t play favourites with your kids, Lance thinks, feeling his lips curve up into a smile. 

Beside him, Keith groans, burying his face in his hands. Lance pats him on the back, then lets his hand linger, thumb rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. “Hey man,” he says. “Getting embarrassed by your mom in front of your friends is normal. You’ll get used to it.” Keith shifts his weight to lean against Lance’s side, grumbling. Lance’s heart stutters in his chest. 

“I had an uncle like that,” Coran says. “A rather narcissistic old man, he was.” Lance muffles a laugh behind his hand when he hears Keith mumble,  _ I’m not narcissistic, what the hell, _ into his ear. He shushes him quietly, wanting to hear more about Coran’s uncle. “They say he fell in love with his own reflection!” Coran says, and this time it’s Keith who muffles a laugh, the sound of it sweet in Lance’s ears. 

“Sounds like you,” Keith whispers, too quiet for Coran to hear. 

Lance looks at Keith’s face, soft and open, and thinks, how could he fall in love with himself when he has this instead?

— 

They’re staying planetside for two day-night cycles this time. The Lions need to recharge and the team needs the time to stock up on provisions and reorient themselves. 

This new planet is lush, full of wildlife. Keith tugs Lance away as soon as the Lions are set up in their clearing and Krolia has checked up on them. She waves at them as they go, eyes twinkling. Yorak follows at their heels. 

“What’s up?” Lance asks, half-concentrated on the feeling of Keith’s fingers laced with his. 

“Wanted to explore,” Keith says. Then, softer, looking over at Lance, “With you.”

They find a waterfall, hidden among the trees. It’s a pretty pink, light glinting off it like crystals. Yorak goes right up to the edge, sniffs at it, then jumps in. Keith laughs, bright and clear. Yorak barks in response. Keith’s still holding Lance’s hand. 

After their Moment with the forehead touching (and it absolutely is a capital-M Moment, Lance thinks), Keith’s been almost constantly touching him whenever he’s within arms reach. And if Keith’s not touching him then it’s Lance who’s reaching out, drawing him close. And it’s great, don’t get him wrong, but. His heart still stops and stutters every time Keith does  _ anything, _ and all this clenching in his chest can’t be healthy. 

They haven’t talked about this yet, whatever it is. Lance knows, at the very least, that whatever he saw means he sticks around in Keith’s life, that Keith doesn’t pull away even though he  _ knows, _ he knows how Lance’s pulse skips whenever he’s around, how Lance gravitates toward him automatically, like a compass seeking North. 

And Lance knows that Keith does the same. He still greets his mother first when they land, then Shiro, then he sticks to Lance’s side, leaning against him, tucking his head against Lance’s shoulder, tracing his fingers over Lance’s knee. Every time Lance walks past, Keith’ll turn just slightly towards him, a flower seeking out the sun. 

It’s a heady feeling, having Keith’s attention like this, being so aware of it. Lance squeezes Keith’s hand. 

“Let’s go swimming,” he says.

Keith looks between him and the water before pulling away slowly, hands going to undo the clasps of his armor, then peeling off his undersuit. Lance stares as Keith’s skin is exposed, watching his muscles move and shift, tracing criss-crossing scar tissue with his eyes. He removes his own armor numbly, unable to take his eyes off of Keith, standing at the edge of the water, looking expectantly over his shoulder at Lance. 

They’re both still and quiet for a moment. Then, Lance moves forward, reaching for Keith and pulling him close. 

“Hey,” Keith whispers.

“Hey,” Lance whispers back. 

And then he pushes Keith into the water.

They both fall in together; Keith grabs Lance as soon as he starts going down. When they surface, they’re both laughing. Keith’s arms are around Lance’s shoulders, Lance’s hands are gripping Keith’s waist. They’re treading the water together. Keith’s laugh is muffled against Lance’s collarbone, his face tucked into Lance’s neck. Lance dips his head, pressing his lips against Keith’s bare shoulder. Their splashing attracts Yorak’s attention. His ears perk up, tongue lolling out.

Lance wishes this one moment could last forever. 

— 

Lance jerks awake, breathing hard in the silence of the Red Lion’s cockpit. His heart pounds. Blood rushes in his ears. Red’s growls pushes at the back of his mind. 

“I’m fine,” he tells her, patting the floor of the cockpit. “I’m fine.” 

He’s not fine. 

He throws his jacket on and leaves for some fresh air. Red lets him go but maintains their link. Part of Lance is grateful for her quiet growling. He knows, at least, that he’s not alone. 

The night air is cool in his lungs. It grounds him, as well as he can be grounded in the middle of space, on a planet whose name he can’t remember right now. He leans back against Red’s paw, crossing his arms and tilting his head back to stare at the stars. He doesn’t recognize any of them. 

He’s homesick. If he could, he thinks, he’d take Red and fly back to Earth in one straight trip, no stops. But he can’t leave his family behind here. He sighs. 

The breeze picks up, ruffling through his hair. He leans into it, lets himself and his racing thoughts get swept up in it until there’s nothing left but the wind on his bare skin. 

There’s a  _ snap!  _ behind him. Lance spins around, every sense dialled up to eleven, looking for a threat. What he sees instead is Shiro, standing awkwardly just beyond Red’s paw. The moonlight glints off his white hair, making him look ghostly. Lance tries to tamp down his fight-or-flight response, but something must show on his face, because Shiro scratches sheepishly at the the back of his head and says, “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”

Lance’s throat is dry. “It’s cool,” he says automatically. “Did you, uh, did you need something?”

“I wanted to talk to you, actually.” 

Oh. 

Shiro gestures with a jerk of his head, turning to go somewhere. Lance follows, brain still on autopilot, mind racing again. What could Shiro possibly want to talk about in the middle of the night?

Lance follows Shiro to the foot of the Black Lion. Shiro lowers himself to the ground in front of her paws awkwardly, still not used to maneuvering with only one arm. He pats the ground next to him, gesturing at Lance to sit down. 

“So…,” Lance starts, “what’s up?”

“I’ve been talking to Keith,” Shiro says. Lance’s split-second panic must show on his face, because Shiro immediately follows up with, “Not anything bad, I promise!” His eyes are wide, hand reaching out and tapping Lance’s shoulder, one-two-three-four quick little pats. 

Lance swallows. “What, uh, what were you guys talking about?”

“Ketih told me you said you saw me on the astral plane.” Oh, shit. Lance braces himself for a reprimand, a  _ why didn’t you do better?, why didn’t you figure it out sooner? _ What he gets instead is, “He says you’ve kind of been beating yourself up about not— not being able to reach me, I guess. And I just— it’s not your fault, you know that? If anything, it’s on me. I should’ve, I don’t know, tried harder to reach you.” 

Shiro, when Lance looks over at him, is staring up at the stars with his brow furrowed. “Shiro,” Lance says quietly. “You were literally stuck in another plane of existence, completely unreachable, and you still managed to communicate with us. You were trying the hardest out of all of us and we didn’t even know until it was almost too late. So— so don’t say you should’ve,” he gestures vaguely with his hands,  _ “tried harder _ , or something.”

Shiro’s smiling a little. It makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. He laughs quietly. “Alright then, how’s this. We split the blame. Everyone’s at fault, not just one person, okay?” He looks over at Lance. “But, personally, I still maintain that none of it was your fault.”

“Fine,” Lance says, feeling an answering smile creep up across his face. “We all fucked up a little.” And then, “So is that, like, really all you wanted to talk about?”

Shiro hums. “Well, there is one other thing.” His little smile turns into a mischievous grin, and suddenly he looks so much younger. “What’s going on with you and my little brother, huh?”

“Oh my god,” Lance buries his face in his hands. “Am I about to get the shovel talk?”

“Nah,” Shiro bumps his shoulder against Lance’s. “I don’t think you’d ever break Keith’s heart. I don’t think he’d break yours, either.” He looks at Lance out of the corner of his eye. “But I’ve gotta tease my brother and his boyfriend about their love life, am I right?”

“No!” Lance sputters. “You are not right!” And then, quietly, through his fingers, “I really like him, Shiro.”

“He really likes you too, you know.”

“Yeah,” Lance whispers, welcoming the heat in his cheeks. “I know.”

— 

Keith, Lance thinks, is most beautiful by firelight. The campfire flickers in his eyes, making them look Galra-golden even as his pretty purple irises shine through. He’s smiling at something Shiro’s saying, something Lance has missed completely, too busy staring and too enamoured to make himself stop. His hand is resting on Lance’s thigh, thumb absentmindedly stroking back and forth. Lance wants to lean into that touch, to keep going until there’s no space between them, until he has Keith wrapped in his arms, heartbeats pounding together. Keith leans closer, like he’s somehow responding to Lance’s wishes. His head drops onto Lance’s shoulder. He lets out a contented sigh when Lance’s arm goes around his waist.

Keith is kind of like a big cat, Lance has learned. He likes warmth, and cuddles, and being able to sprawl over things (namely Lance) for warm, cuddly naps. If Lance sneaks the tips of his fingers up underneath Keith’s shirt and brushes them against his side, he gets a shiver and a muffled giggle. If he pulls Keith a little closer and drops a kiss into his hair, Keith will wrap his own arm around Lance’s waist, will turn his head and brush a kiss right next to Lance’s mouth. Before they take off, Keith will come over to where Lance is standing with Red, or Lance will go over to where Keith is standing with Black, and they’ll lean their foreheads together and breathe each other in for just a moment. While they’re flying, they’ll connect their comms even if they’re not saying anything, just to feel like they’re together, breathing in the same room. They’ll endure Shiro’s light-hearted teasing, and Krolia’s, too, if she’s riding in Black or Red. Sometimes Yorak will bark at Lance through the comm, and Lance will baby-talk back at him, and Keith will laugh fondly at them both. 

The road back to Earth still feels long and winding and painful, and Lance still aches to see Varadero again, but here, sitting by a campfire on an alien planet, surrounded by his family, he feels at home. 

**Author's Note:**

> the roaring lance heard over the comms was keith on some galra bullshit bc the love of his life was in danger the roaring he heard in his head was the black lion bc future black paladin lance is canon king
> 
> i'm on [ twitter ](https://twitter.com/criticaIhits)


End file.
